Have you ever heard of FRANCIS? This database may be very useful for you if you need any bibliographic reference on the human and social sciences.

Created in 1972, it has been produced and managed by the Centre de Documentation Sciences Humaines (CDSH) of the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, a branch of the “Ministere des Universites”.

This computerized file has been increasing by 90,000 new items each year and now contains about 1,000,000, from which may be extracted any research literature from all over the world in the fields of geography, ethnology, linguistics, religion, administative science, sociology, education, prehistory etc. The references obtained contain bibliographic information, keywords and often abstracts of the documents (articles, books, theses, working papers, symposium proceedings, conferences etc). These documents are published in all European languages but above all in French and English.

The African Studies Association of the West Indies (ASAWI) came into being in 1967 for the primary purpose of promoting a scholarly interest in African Studies in the Caribbean area. In the context of this region, the term “African Studies” was to be used to include elements of African culture which persisted in or had an influence on institutions in the region. ASAWI aimed at making a contribution to the body of scholarship on African topics, especially in subjects where West Indian sources and interpretations would add another dimension. ASAWI Bulletin (hereafter Bulletin) was a major forum through which the Association disseminated information to the public.

Eight issues of the bulletin were published between 1967 and 1976. It began as a mimeographed item, but after three issues it appeared in printed form. By the time eight issues had appeared, the editors acknowledged that the Bulletin from its inception had “showed signs of life more akin to a journal.“

Albert Thomas Matson, ‘Mat’ to his many friends, was born in Sipson, Middlesex in 1915. He was educated at Southall Grammar School before joining the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1939.1n 1944 he was seconded to the Colonial Service in Kenya as a Health Inspector. After serving in Kisii he was transferred to Nandi District in 1949, where he remained until his retirement fourteen years later.

His interest in Kenyan history arose from a request from Senior Chief Elija arap Chepkwony and his colleagues of the Nandi District Council that the history of their people should be written. Matson responded to their request by undertaking research into oral history in the course of his travels as a Health Inspector and by consulting and copying a great range of archival sources, official and personal, in East Africa and in Britain.

The successful Seventh Standing Conference of Eastern, Central and Southern African Librarians was attended by approximately 200 librarians from the region and from the U.K. The Botswana Library Association must be congratulated on hosting and facilitating this conference; a task that included a great deal of fundraising, facilitating accommodation, travel and entertainment. Everyone was very kind, the accommodation good and the food and drink both generous and tasty.

I would like to thank British Council for providing my travel and the Botswana Library Association for my meals and accommodation. I was able to attend all three ‘conferences', visit a village and talk with several government and nongovernment officers while there and it was all a very enjoyable experience.